She held out her gun and let go of his wrist while slowly walking towards the line of shelves and taking a closer look to the books that were rearranged, missing or still there. This was because Aefia had gone through this part of the library multiple times in three weeks and she had a common idea of what the books would mostly be about.
Some were guides to rituals and some were books that were used for rituals, while others were books about magic or any other sorts of confidential items or materials that the normal population of people couldn't intercept, but officers and investigators could.
Although she hadn't memorized all of the book names that were on the shelves, she had a photographic memory that allowed her to notice any changes that had been made. And when she was walking through the aisle, she had noticed not just one or two difference, but multiples and all of them were based on ritualistic books.
This part of the library was huge and stretched a long way, but before that, she had to do a thing that she thought right. Her headache kept increasing, even when she had already left the area of the problem around there, she had a suspicion that they were about to get framed.
"Hold on, let's get permission first. It's not safe if we just burst into here and fall into a trap." Aefia said, holding her forehead and looking down while turning around and walking back to their place. She continued walking with a blank mind until she was suddenly grabbed and turned around.
"You can't leave with a bloody nose like that. Wipe it, wipe it!" Puppet held out a tissue it had randomly collected and passed it towards Aefia. "Puppet, thank you but you can't pick up tissue from the ground like that. But I really appreciate how you just reminded me about that." She spoke while wiping her nose on her black sleeve.
She walked over to their table and grabbed her cloak, without putting it on, she walked over to the counter. Before leaving that area, she had made sure the doors were closed before going over to ask. She took slow and steady steps to avoid grabbing the attention of passerby's, they couldn't mess up anything especially around this time.
She knocked the wooden table of the front desk counter and waited for the receptionist's notice. "Hi, I just wanted to get access to the private area of the library. I need to research a case file there." Aefia spoke.
"Sorry, but only official personnel's are allowed to get in. Do you have an identity card or proof that you have access to the restricted area?" The receptionist asked politely as her brown, wavy hair fell over her face and moved like water waves. This reminded Aefia of Nada's swaying black hair.
"Uh..oh yes. Here." She held out the fake identification card she had gotten from the foundation. The receptionist checked the ID and walked over to the restricted area. "You may go in. The doors are always open so you didn't need to ask any staff, hope you find the thing you are looking for. All case files are put to the shelves lined on the right side of the area." She spoke and Aefia nodded before walking away.
Aefia swung open the door and walked in, relieved that now at least they won't be as suspected. "There must be a smaller chamber around here, somewhere..." She said while looking around. There was a very faint wave of elemental magic being left behind as a trail by a walking source and afraid of losing it, she ran towards the direction of the source.
But even if she continued chasing, she couldnt catch up and the entity would seem like they were teleporting to places instead of just walking. Or maybe, Aefia thought, they are just doing so to fool us.
Helio, Puppet and Cindy had a hard time following her, because she seemed to be moving at a very fast pace and frantically searching for something. Even Puppet couldn't catch up with where she was headed due to the intense magic power overwhelmingly flooding the room.
"If you can read her mind, can't you trace where she is?" Helio asked while trying to catch his breathe. "But what is she even up to?"
"Haven't you noticed how the door was open and this part of the library consist of mostly ritualistic books. And have you already forgotten how rituals can be dangerous, like back at the mission, that evil mage had been using the ritual that held the power of the three moons, and defeating it had gotten Aefia injured like that." Puppet spoke as it hurriedly looked around from the gaps of the books in the shelves.
"But maybe someone had left it open before because they had forgotten?" Helio asked back.
"No because who would want to try and cast a ritual, all sorts are dangerous and evil. If someone had stolen just any one of the ritualistic books from around here, the entire library will be affected by the magic. Aefia managed to notice the early stages and she is planning on stopping it, because that sort of magic effects her mind."
"And why is that so?" Helio asked a little bit concerned now.
"Because she has the power that is almost psychic and any other types of magic damages her mind of she were close to it. So to prevent that, a barrier was placed on her mind, in order for her to be safe for up to thirty minutes."
"And who placed the barrier?"
"Your mentor, Ms. Avry I think? She had long ago done so and even Aefia doesn't know it, but I managed to know because I stayed in her mind." Puppet replied. "Now help me find her before the time is up!" It floated away while leaving a very beautiful trail as it flew.
***
Aefia ran as she finally got hints of where the magic was leaking from. It were among the more secure part of the ritualistic portion of the restricted area. The closed place of the library was very big and this part was pushed to the very back to make sure it didn't fall to the wrong hands of course.
She reached the last row of shelves and skidded to a stop as she noticed a very faint but out of place shape that shouldn't have been there. The books were in a mess and it could be seen that something was definitely wrong as her headache suddenly increased and it felt like someone was using a hammer on her skull.
There was a familiar figure standing at the end of the area, holding a book which wasn't supposed to be there before. "Nada! What the heck are you doing?!" Aefia shouted while bringing out her gun, but not showing it, and slowly walking towards her cousin.
She, isn't really interested into things like this...Then what is this sudden change supposed to mean? Is she plotting something? I could try to mind control her to put the book away and walk out of here like nothing happened.
She slowly walked towards Nada and held out a hand to touch her shoulder. Helio had arrived a few seconds later and already had his gun out in case there were another entity around that were going to cause trouble soon. He had learned a lesson or two from the mission they had just came back from and learned how to take precautions.
Even when Aefia had already had a hand out to approach Nada, she still moved a little closer to her and looked at her face to make sure for any changes had happened. Aefia slowly lifted her cousin's chin and stepped back multiple paces while almost slipping.
Her eyes had turned a deep black with no pupil, with a calm smile that was almost non-human. It wasn't a sickly one, but in Aefia's persumtions, it was as terrifying as those gigantic monsters she had faced in the first stage of the second mission.
The headache became blinding and her brain spun around on itself. Thinking was an impossible task, speaking was complicated as moving her jaw caused even more dizziness. She still managed to catch a glimpse of what she was reading, but it was all just ancient languages that she couldn't read.
"Nada! Snap back to reality." Aefia shock her shoulders as she dropped the book. Nada looked at Aefia with a very weird smile and held her face like she would back on Earth. "Oh wow Aefia, you look a little too concerned about me picking up a book to read. But you are always reading books, so I decided that I should try some." She looked down at the book that had been dropped. "Why? Don't you want me to read it?"
"Nada, your eyes are usually hazel, not completely black and dialated. What is it that you are doing? You haven't spoken to me in a week or so, and it is odd to see you suddenly acting friendly and all." Aefia moved her hands away from her face but held them by the wrist as Nada folded all of her ten fingers.
"Aefia, don't be mad that I have suddenly gotten into reading ritualistic text, they are fun, they are knowledgable...unlike the book about outers worlds that you are interested in. At least I am invested into something that will come to work for me in the future." Nada spoke as her smile vanished.
Aefia's eyes widened, "Nada, that isn't you. Something is completely wrong with the way you speak. You are never concerned about your future, and now you want to learn about something, that you believe is useful?" She spoke as she moved back.
Nada looked back at the book on the ground as she crouched to pick it back up. She even dusted it and blew it before holding. Aefia noticed, and smacked the book back down as she brought out the gun in front of Nada's forehead. "You are not going to read that book again. Let it stay on the floor." She said as her hands shivered.
"..." Nada looked surprised for a split second and closed her eyes. In a swift movement, she had Aefia's gun pointed directly above her right shoulder and moved closer to look t her eyes, she held her forehead with the back of her hand.
"You seem pretty feverish. Are you sick? Maybe that's why you are acting all so weird. You weren't like that...before you suddenly started dissapearing like you never existed in this universe." Nada spoke as she let go and moved back.
"When...do I disappear in specific?" Aefia asked not really knowing what to say next. "Look I don't know what you mean but you have never really been to my room, never knocked or spoken to me in about a week!" She spoke as she lowered her gun.
"Maybe...but remember two days ago? I was actually in front of your room door, knocked many times and left with Anasiy after a short while thinking you were sleeping. But when you returned, you had a slightly bloody appearance." Nada explained. "And then, the day I stopped talking to you? I saw you slowly dissapear into void and the next time, your eye was covered with a red fabric."
"...I just think...as a person, you won't be doing that unless you have been possessed by an interstellar being who is looking to seek damage to our foundation, right?" Aefia spoke with a mad face. "But then, why are you invading Nada's soul? There are many more, even from the other teams."
"Are they ice users?" Nada spoke and after doing so, she covered her mouth and spoke with a much calmer expression that was almost soul piercing. "Sorry, but maybe I am a rare and exotic being myself and you really don't want to understand that and blame it on some kind of rituals that has overtaken me?" She grabbed Aefia's shoulder as she squeezed it with every words.
"Do I look like a backstabber to you?" She asked clenching her tightly. "Have you noticed how you are just so ignorant about us that now you are willing to call your own cousin...a backstabber?"
"I never said that!" Aefia shouted while trying to bite back a scream. The way Nada was grabbing her shoulder was like pressure was hanging low from both of her cavicles. She grabbed her wrist again and flung it away as she straighted back. "Stop making assumptions that was never true! Do you think...wait, you said cousin..." Aefia blanked out at that word.
Nada laughed a wicked one. "You were never really concerned about your 'best friend' that way before, you had been saying it all the time, that I was your cousin. You bragged about it all the way from school, all the way during a shopping spree, I can blame you infinitely for something you had said, right?"
"No...I didn't," she was so shocked, she couldn't speak for a whole second. Suddenly, Nada pounced at her and held her face with her left hand.
"Aefia! Your eye is healed!" Nada gasped while lifting a patch of hair with her right hand. "You are such a good liar and hider that you managed to hide this from Ms. Avry?! She has been worried to death for you!" In the distance, Helio stared with a partially betrayed look on his face.
"But I should say...I am truly...truly...happy." She let go and hugged Aefia like she would do back when they were mutual, which made her head hurt extremely.
At first, it wasn't distinguishable, but then another sharp pain was felt at her sternum. Nada released her, and slightly moved back, "and here is a present from me...to you for your speedy recovery." She laughed.
Aefia held her wound as she noticed the half crimson blade that consisted of her blood, that was just drawn. She leaned against Nada's shoulders with a hand, and it spilled onto the crusted pages of the book that was on the ground. More blood dripped, from her mouth as her vision started to blur, while her headache started to ease.